Cubes & Crayons Coworking - Silicon Valley

Modern Mom: Can We really have it all!

While I posted this on my personal blog, it feels even more timely today, and so I share it to remind us all, that we are all working on that balance:

Over the weekend my "wife" had to quit to watch her nephew while her sister tutors.  And now I am scrambling to find a replacement.  My husband just returned to work from paternity leave and so I am back to conference calls hoping my youngest will map and my oldest will play quietly for a15 minutes.

I live by the belief that as a modern mom we can have it all, but sometimes that reality is far from the truth.  The goal towards flexible work options and retention of professional women in the workplace is improving.  It is a friendlier work environment for parents in general than it was thirty years ago.  I read an article on just this about how moms (or mums) in Australia are trying to make it all work.  And so the question remains, can we have it all?

LasMadres: Bring a Friend Open House

Cubes&Crayons and LasMadres are partnering to bring SAHM, WAHM, and well, just Silicon Valley parents in general a chance to meet and learn about all the great events LasMadres does. Heard of Cubes&Crayons but still wondering what we are all about?  Wondering about LasMadres' fabulous group of parents?  Drop-in for our upcoming open house.  Las Madres members are encouraged to bring a friend.

Creating Culture and Community

One of the key components and reasons for coworking is the culture and community created by coworking environments.  Having a mix of dedicated desk users and drop ins makes for a dynamic culture.  And yet many spaces face a chicken and egg problem in creating this community.   People don't want to work in an empty space if they are looking for an alternative to the isolation of working at home.  At the same time some person and/or people have to be the pioneers in any one space aiming to get others to join in the fun of the coworking environment.
That's why many people start with a jelly.  A Jelly is a bunch of people getting together to work side by side in a cafe, home, or business.  "You bring your laptop and some work, and Jelly provides wifi, a chair, and smart people to bounce ideas off of and collaborate with." A great way to get going on finding out if others want to reap the benefits of coworking to the point of renting and developing an actual space for your Jelly.

Podcast: Coworking at Cubes&Crayons

Recently, Cubes&Crayons coworking founder and CEO, MF Chapman, was interviewed for our first podcast focused on coworking.  It was a fun adventure, almost like being on the radio, but I guess radio for the 21st century.  You can listen to the podcast with Megan Morrone and Leo Laporte on Jumping Monkeys.

Cubes&Crayons: Why I am not there...

  I recently was at Cubes&Crayons with my little ones, a place I rarely am these days, much to everyone's surprise, including my own.  I realized as I walked through the space that I barely new the clients now and they didn't even recognize my daughters who's images fill the lobby.  Someone asked a staff member who I was.  It was a little disheartening to realize that everyone doesn't know me anymore and I don't know them.

Catching a wave

The wave of coworking and telecommuting in shared spaces is catching on.  Cubes & Crayons was recently featured as part of an article on coworking in Silicon Valley from The Wave magazine.  Take a moment to check out what the sociologist in the article says about why we work alone but together. 

Flexible work even for small companies

This original post on companies embracing more flexible work is an original post to Cake: Having it, Eating It, Loving It...

In my work life, I focus on three major issues: building the business, asking for funding, and stressing the value and importance of work-life balance.  I've talked before about the great large companies out there starting to provide more flexible work situations for their employees such as Ernst & Young, Nixon Peabody and Cisco.  So, I was thrilled when I read this recent article about even smaller companies seeing the value and benefits of providing flexibility for their employees.

Kevin Oakes, CEO of Institute for Corporate Productivity, hit the nail on the head when he said "I don't think you have licence to expect flexibility from your employees unless you're willing to give it."  Read more...

C&C and Coworking hit the NY Times

Very fun to have Cubes & Crayons Coworking in the NY Times today...thank you to LIsa Belkin who found us and wrote the article.  Here's the Cubes and Crayons highlight:

"

At Cubes and Crayons in Menlo Park, Calif., most of the clients are women, which is not typical. Child care is part of the package. The 60 members can drop off their children and work in a quiet lounge a few yards away.

C&C CEO speaking at Blossom Birth

Our CEO, writer and advocate for work-life balance, has been asked to speak at Blossom Birth at the end of the month.  Details below:

Life after Baby: Carving Out Time for Yourself

Friday, June 27, 1:30- 3:00 pm

Having trouble justifying "me" time? Need some ways to get time for yourself and ultimately be a better parent? Capturing personal time is one of the hardest things for parents, and especially moms, to do. Come meet our own Bay Area mom, entrepreneur, and expert in work-life balance, M. Felicity speak about giving yourself the freedom to breath and resources available to do so.

About the Speaker:

Bay Area native and true California girl, M. Felicity is considered an expert in making the work-life balance happen and shares her story along with her absolutely necessary tips and tricks to having your cake and eating it, too. Felicity is an entrepreneur and recently launched her second company, Cubes&Crayons with its first campus in downtown Menlo Park. Cubes & Crayons provides flexible office space with onsite childcare. She is an advocate for the importance of finding work-life balance and creating solutions for parents and companies to work together on these issues. She blogs for SVMoms, Cake, Coworking Blog, and YourOnRamp. Additionally, she is a regular contributor to the work-life balance section of eMoms and LadyAdvisor.

RSVP requested.  Kindly email blossom@blossombirth.org or call 650-321-2326.  Include your phone number and email address.

Dear CEOs: I invite you to clue in to Coworking

...Cross-posted from original post on Cake: Having it, Eating it, Loving it!

Dear CEOs of the world,

The worker population is changing and corporations are being threatened with losing their most valuable resources if they don't start to clue in.  The best and brightest corporations are already checking in on what's going on out there.  Places like Deloitte & Touche and Ernst & Young are working on ways to develop more flexible experiences for parents. 

Honestly, sometimes I wonder if you realize that you are soon going to have a bunch of empty desks.  You two major problems: 

1. Having kids later: people are having kids later and when they do, they want time with their kids and to work.  They are established in their careers and have years of experience that cannot easily be replaced by a new college grad.  These valuable resources are as mastercard would say, priceless.  In order to woo these employees to stay, corporations need to become more flexible.
2. Millenial generation Writing Their Own Ticket:  The Millenial Generation has their own viewpoint on how their work environment should be.  These are smart, creative individuals who believe they should be able to work when they want and from where they want to.  Although in some ways self-entitled, this generation is more likely to demand opportunities to work in co-working spaces around the world than to be stuck in a stuffy corporate headquarters.